under the belt / experience

[redgiant]

And the effect was more pronounced the more internet savvy the surfer was: older adults with more Internet experience under their belts got twice the brain benefit of web rookies when going online.


"Under the belt" means "already achieved or experienced", do you think it is redundant here, with the word "experience" already in the sentence?

[Anglika]

No - rephrase it >> "the Internet under their belts" and you will see why. The sentence is talking about experience of using the net.

[BobK]

No - rephrase it >> "the Internet under their belts" and you will see why. The sentence is talking about experience of using the net.

It seems to me that 'older adults with more Internet experience got twice the brain benefit of web rookies when going online' would do the job just as well. That said, a bit of redundancy tends to go with natural language.

b